Time to embrace a ‘dogs of war’ mentality

That tag was originally bestowed upon Everton’s unfashionable FA Cup winning side of 1995 – and it could easily be applied to the current Ipswich Town team that is battling to avoid Championship relegation.

Ironically, it was the manager of the aforementioned Toffees team, Joe Royle, that last produced free-flowing, top-six football at Portman Road

And while many Blues fans were left yearning for such easy-on-the-eye fare after watching Watford pass their team off the park in a 2-0 home defeat on Tuesday night, the current crop of players at the club make no apologies for buying into Mick McCarthy’s ‘hard-to-beat’ ethos.

“Right now it’s all about getting safe,” said striker David McGoldrick, who has scored one goal in eight appearances since signing for the club. “We’ve all got to sacrifice our own personal performances for the good of the team.

“I’d obviously have liked to have got a few more goals, but what’s more important is the results.

“We aren’t going to play football like Watford, nice one-touch, two-touch passing football, it’s going to be dogged performances. We’ve just got to roll our sleeves up and get the points that are required to stay up.

“I’m doing a little job of dropping back in and helping the midfield out. Against Watford they had a man sitting in front of the defence and I was just trying to get around him. Doing the dirty work is what the manager wants me to do.”

Tomorrow, Town play at a Huddersfield side who are just a point below them in the congested bottom half of the table. The Terriers have won just one of their last 16 league games and were thumped 6-1 at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night in what was new manager Mark Robins’ first league game in charge.

“I think if we keep playing the way we have been then the points will keep coming,” said McGoldrick.

“We’re a hard team to play against. It’s not pretty, but Blackpool were averaging three goals a game and they came here and barely had a shot last weekend (1-0 Town win).

“When you’re at the bottom you’ve got to defend from the front and make it hard for the opposition to pass the ball.

“It’s horrible playing against teams like us who hassle you and close you down. I spoke to one of the Blackpool players after the game on Saturday and he said that the wingers were complaining that they were being doubled up on. Once they got past one there was always another one there.

“We’ve proved that we can get wins – I think we’ve got 31 points since the gaffer’s come in. We’ve just got to keep going with this approach.”

– See today’s Ipswich Star for full match preview.

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It never ceases to amaze me that people who see the occasional game know far more than the professionals who have been in football at all levels for years.However at least they do go to matches, our biggest critics go no further than the match reports.

Old timer,do you believe in optimism,only you always seem to look on the black side.MM has done a great job since taking over.Dont keep thinking of the past,we all remember the good times,and I'm sure they will return.

1.5 points per game since MM took over; over the course of a whole season that's enough to make the play offs. Simple really. No need to panic, just get enough points to put this miserable season behind us and get things sorted out in the summer.

Ah Genial Joe - our last proper manager !!!!! Playing good football with our own players & getting to the playoffs despite the looming spectre of administration. Things have gone downhill badly since we got rid of him. We got Magilton because he was cheap - Keane because he wasn't - & god only knows why we got Jewell. MM hasn't got much to live up to then but worryingly seems to base at least part of his philosophy on the hapless Jewell !!!!!

brisie58 - at the risk of becoming very boring I think his biggest mistake was paying up Scotlands contract which made him affordable to Barnsley - who I am convinced will now finish above us. I would have preferred him to the loanees by virtue of the fact that he wanted to be our player & took a pay cut to stay here & since going to Barnsley has demonstrated what he is capable of for a manager who has faith in him. I think he should also have given Hewitt a chance instead of bringing in loans such as Orr & Stearman. Of course this is just a personal point of view & I do realise MM inherited a mess & is reluctant to take any risks. As such I shouldn't be too critical as his real test will come next year when he has a chance to bulid his own team with our own players. What I would say however is that at Ipswich we have been able to bring in many more players than the clubs around us & many of them are outperforming us despite this. I can only repeat that the game at Huddersfield is vital & much as I want us to win have had most of the optimism knocked out of me over the past couple of seasons or so.

Old timer,thanks for your reply,I don't think MM has made any mistakes as yet,well,not that I recall.I don't think he had much choice with regard to loan players.I am sure he would have liked to sign players,but January is not the best time to sign players as most clubs are involved in promotion or relegation battles,therefore he had to go back on his word much to his disgust.He has stated he is looking for players to sign in the summer and I have great faith in his judgement,he is a good man as is TC.we must give him the benefit of doubt and let him do his job..There are too many people on this site who think they can run a team and the business side but Know very little and are arm chair supporters only.Old timer what mistakes do you feel he has made.?

brisie58 - yes I believe in optimism but only when prefixed by its usual 'cause for'. For me the jury is still very much out on MM - OK he had a good start - but that is invariably the way with a new manager - especially when the players had largely given up on the previous one.
I think MM has had his successes but has also made mistakes & is following the disasterous policy of overloading the team with loanees - having said this was not the way to go. The game at Huddersfield is vital to any chance of optimism - they are one of the few teams we can hope to keep below us. After that we have Leicester at home - always a difficult fixture - followed by trips to Forest & Peterborough. Forest seem revitalised with Davies back & P'boro won their last match 5-1 away. We have a bad record against the teams below us & don't forget Posh put 7 past us last year there. I am not overly confident that Huddersfield will not respond to their humiliation at Forest & if they were to beat us then there is little to be optimistic about regarding our next 3 fixtures !!

I suppose No Loans could always go to Battersea Dogs Home to get yet more strays in on loan... but at the risk of pointing out the blindingly obvious yet again Offshore Investment FC are a hotchpotch of other teams players plus 3 or 4 Town players who won't be here next season. None of them have anything to pay for, particularly as the manager has shown himself to lack integrity and chase loans, loans and more loans rather than show any faith in his own players. Dogs of war? More like Loans of despair.